Since I asked Lennie to post this, I received an email from Captain Sougal stating suddenly Lieutenant Karpus could not attend, but he would “try” to find a replacement.
Pure political machinations.
In the last five weeks the following crimes have occurred in the 138th District:
13 people were shot in the largest mass shooting in Bridgeport’s history
A man was shot on Priscilla St.
A woman claimed she was raped in Nob Hill
A major drug raid occurred on Texas Ave, just two days ago where weapons, marijuana and crack were found
A homeowner found a prowler at the rear of Beverly Drive and he held him captive until police arrived
Several vehicles have had their tires removed and left on cinder blocks overnight with the vehicles parked in their driveways
Several break-ins in broad daylight
We have already hand-delivered 1,250 fliers as of this morning and received several call from residents thanking us for organizing the forum. Acting Chief AJ Perez’ mother and daughter live in our neighborhood on Evers Place, and the BPD is going to “try” to make it.
What police department doesn’t attend a community forum with all of these crimes occurring in a five-week window? Are they nuts?
I am pretty sure this was done at the direction of Ganim, but they are going to both be held accountable at the forum. I am going to copy all the emails for every attendee and I have already contacted the press and sent them the emails.
Maria Pereira, I’m not surprised. Just recently I have made comments that our Police Department no longer exists. Public Safety in Bridgeport is NOW Joe Ganim and the Bridgeport Police Union. The Bridgeport Police Corps has been turned into a para-political entity. I’ve had a couple of funny things happen to me in the last couple of months. One more thing to fix in Bridgeport.
It was great to see and meet members of the Police Corps at the 138th Forum. The police officers of Today are highly trained with many having higher education (Degrees in Criminology and constant (re)training). It is critical they are allowed to focus on Public Safety and not be distracted by other peripheral issues.
Maria, very good, just give the facts out. I hope no one from the police department shows up. In fact place a chair at the head table with a sign saying Bridgeport Police Department so everybody can take pictures of the empty chair with the other speakers, BINGO!!!
LENNIE GRIMALDI, I need some help. Someone called me TODAY 9/9/2016 and they said they just are trying to get approved for OIB BUT they asked me to return their phone call but the phone number message was wrong/garbled. I have a name. Can you help me?
First, I want to commend the 138th district for putting together this forum. I know Maria and Eric are working hard.
Second and perhaps more important point, where are the elected councilmen? With all due respect, Anthony Paoletto and Nessah Smith were elected to represent the 138th. They would have requested through AJ Perez the presence of the police department. AJ Perez most likely would have been there.
Perhaps Paoletto and Smith were negligent in not initiating such a meeting. They are inexperienced, I give them a pass. They should have been included. The “Fonsecas” are also part of the 138th and very involved. Clearly they were not part of this excellent venue. I think the Mayor would have been very supportive as well as the top brass of the police department if everything went through the proper channels.
Yes, the crime rate seems high in the area and should be addressed. Politics has no place when addressing these issues. Leaving out the two elected officials who serve under our Mayor was a mistake. Not including all members of the 138th was also a mistake.
I think what seemed like an excellent idea to communicate issues to the area, the obvious absence of key figures made it political.
I commend Maria for putting this together but her disdain for some of her District members and elected officials cast a gray cloud on what should have been a great event. Just my opinion of course.
I don’t know what your definition of “key figures” is, but believe me when I say no one of any significance was omitted.
No one who participated in the planning so much as referenced the Fonsecas, Anthony Paoletto, Nessah Smith, or Stallworth. We agreed we would invite Senator Gomes. No other elected officials were invited. Acting Chief Perez was invited and is absolutely welcome.
When you asked me about the specifics of the forum this was my response:
“The only politician invited, besides the 138th DTC members who are organizing this, is Ed Gomes who we are hoping will lead us in a remembrance of the 9/11 victims.
This forum was initiated because several constituents requested it when I was standing at Thomas Hooker School on August 9, 2016.
You would think Anthony and Nessah would have done something to communicate with their constituents regarding the explosion of crime in the 138th District in the last five weeks, but they did nothing. One is busy attending photo-ops and the other is just non-existent.
We decided to do it ourselves. We contacted Senator Ed Gomes and garnered his support, we found a neighborhood location, created a flier, set up our 138th Facebook page, contacted the appropriate representatives regarding speaking and confirmed their attendance, and spent hours in this oppressive heat hand-delivering our fliers. We dropped another 200 fliers today.
It’s our first Community Forum so we don’t really know what to expect. We have no idea what the turnout will be.
Once again, I hope both council members don’t show up, because they don’t care and they are going to do what they are told to do so this meeting will force their hands. Do the same thing with these two, put a sign in their chair with their name and take pictures of their empty chairs.
Maria,
It is interesting to observe the Mayor’s Transition Committee recommended just this type of District gathering, thinking it might be a shared responsibility of four Council persons from adjoining districts. Page 12 in the report on the City site.
Of course you would first have to read the report and respect such a recommendation before acting on it. But it is often easier to go with the flow and do nothing. Good initiative in this district. Necessary in all districts if you talk with the people who live there.
Stewardship, representation, keepers of public trust. How does each CC see themselves in front of a mirror? Time will tell.
I want to thank Mary Filo and Jon Pulverenti for helping me hand-deliver another 150 fliers today. Jon lives in the 138th District and contacted me to see if he could offer any help. Went out in this heat with me for 2-1/2 hours.
The response we have received has been one of great appreciation. I received two more calls today from our fliers.
It will be really interesting to see how many 138th residents come out tomorrow. We really don’t know what to expect.
Maria Maria, By The Great Carlos Santana
(In Part)
“Stop the lootin’, stop the shootin’
Pick pocking on the corner
See as the rich is getting richer
The poor is getting poorer.
I said a la favella los colores
The streets are getting hotter
There is no water to put out the fire
Ni gota de esperanza
Se mira Maria on the corner
Thinking of ways to make it better
Then I looked up in the sky
Hoping of days of paradise”
Please visit our Facebook page “138th District In the Know.”
It was a full house with every single seat taken and standing room only. A great success!
Nessah Smith and Anthony Paoletto attended and were in the last row. All elected officials were recognized warmly including Senator Ed Gomes, the 138th DTC Members, etc. Our City Council members received a very tepid response.
Pete Spain, Dave Walker, JML, Mary Filo, and Lisa Parziale all spoke and were warmly received. Lieutenant Cotto and several officers also attended.
We agreed we would schedule another meeting with Acting Chief AJ Perez because we needed more information and answers on the spike in crime.
We had a diverse group of attendees and everyone was very respectful.
Maria,
Thanks for the opportunity to participate. Congratulations on organizing a successful community outreach event. I look forward to participating in future events in various parts of the City.
Bridgeport like many other cities report their crime statistics to the FBI. Some real hard questions should be asked of him, what does he do when there is an uptick in crime in a particular area.
His so-called staff should be the patrol sergeants. They are closer to the problem than some captain or deputy chief. At the next meeting see if there are any patrol sergeants; if not ask why aren’t they here.
Where is that person who can think outside the box? There should be an oversight committee to ask the hard questions to the command staff of the police department.
Perhaps it’s time to look for a chief, a chief who is going to hold the department heads to task. Oh wait, Chapman tried that and was sent on his way. Norwood tried some things too, the union had other ideas too. The union got their way and AJ too. How is the marriage so far?
It was a great forum with very positive conversations. To say Smith and Paoletto received a very tepid response is putting it nicely. It is further proof the elected officials of Bridgeport are feckless and if anything is going to happen it will be up to citizens to take the lead.
Maria,
Thank you for providing a meeting forum in your area where many could stand up, ask questions, listen to answers in real time, and ask follow-ups. That is a different type of meeting.
Hope the two CC members present will return to the Transition report and read the multiple opportunities for making our City better. The Council has a role to play and for too long has ignored it.
Finally, public safety, City decisions that raise taxes for many or decrease resident equity values, and neighborhood down-zoning matters all deserve attention from Council members. When Lisa Parziale gets her Brooklawn constituency together, it will be well. We all can be fooled at times by the words of those running for office. When they win and we discover they are different from what was advertised, we need to return to TRUST BUT VERIFY. That’s when OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT and HONEST come into play.
Tonight the Budget and Appropriations group will review the July report and discover the City is already projecting more REVENUE from STATE SOURCES of $6 Million. Will any go to schools to replace Kindergarten Paraprofessionals to start youth off in reading, writing, computation and thinking? And will the City Council firmly demand the City provide information about Capital funds regularly and comprehensively so borrowed and granted funds for Capital projects are seen and understood? Time will tell.
JML, is it possible the magician Ken Flatto already included these dollars while cooking the books? This sales tax share is old news. Maybe the books finally show the dollars, but this is NOT a surprise.
Congratulations to Maria Pereira and to all those who worked on the 138th forum. You could feel a real electricity in the room created by people who care and are ready to work hard and fight to bring back Bridgeport from the powerbrokers who are ONLY concerned about power and don’t care one bit about Bridgeport. I am sure the energy and enthusiasm shown in the 138th will continue. What is critical is this same positive energy spread to ALL parts of Bridgeport and the change that is necessary in Bridgeport will occur. The economic revival of Bridgeport will take some time but any economic revival must be preceded by the presence of GOOD GOVERNANCE in Bridgeport. It is obvious to more and more people BAD GOVERNANCE exists today in Bridgeport and the top priority is maintaining the privileges of power cooked up with the ingredients of patronage and exclusion. Governance in Bridgeport can be changed but it will take a little bit of time and more “people power.” But it does seem to be starting.
Since I asked Lennie to post this, I received an email from Captain Sougal stating suddenly Lieutenant Karpus could not attend, but he would “try” to find a replacement.
Pure political machinations.
In the last five weeks the following crimes have occurred in the 138th District:
13 people were shot in the largest mass shooting in Bridgeport’s history
A man was shot on Priscilla St.
A woman claimed she was raped in Nob Hill
A major drug raid occurred on Texas Ave, just two days ago where weapons, marijuana and crack were found
A homeowner found a prowler at the rear of Beverly Drive and he held him captive until police arrived
Several vehicles have had their tires removed and left on cinder blocks overnight with the vehicles parked in their driveways
Several break-ins in broad daylight
We have already hand-delivered 1,250 fliers as of this morning and received several call from residents thanking us for organizing the forum. Acting Chief AJ Perez’ mother and daughter live in our neighborhood on Evers Place, and the BPD is going to “try” to make it.
What police department doesn’t attend a community forum with all of these crimes occurring in a five-week window? Are they nuts?
I am pretty sure this was done at the direction of Ganim, but they are going to both be held accountable at the forum. I am going to copy all the emails for every attendee and I have already contacted the press and sent them the emails.
Maria Pereira, I’m not surprised. Just recently I have made comments that our Police Department no longer exists. Public Safety in Bridgeport is NOW Joe Ganim and the Bridgeport Police Union. The Bridgeport Police Corps has been turned into a para-political entity. I’ve had a couple of funny things happen to me in the last couple of months. One more thing to fix in Bridgeport.
It was great to see and meet members of the Police Corps at the 138th Forum. The police officers of Today are highly trained with many having higher education (Degrees in Criminology and constant (re)training). It is critical they are allowed to focus on Public Safety and not be distracted by other peripheral issues.
Maria, very good, just give the facts out. I hope no one from the police department shows up. In fact place a chair at the head table with a sign saying Bridgeport Police Department so everybody can take pictures of the empty chair with the other speakers, BINGO!!!
Mr. Ron Mackey, that is an awesome idea.
LENNIE GRIMALDI, I need some help. Someone called me TODAY 9/9/2016 and they said they just are trying to get approved for OIB BUT they asked me to return their phone call but the phone number message was wrong/garbled. I have a name. Can you help me?
Frank, if someone wants to register have them write me at lenniegrimaldi@onlyinbridgeport.com
I just received an email that Lieutenant Cotto will be attending, which is good because he actually lives in the 138th District.
First, I want to commend the 138th district for putting together this forum. I know Maria and Eric are working hard.
Second and perhaps more important point, where are the elected councilmen? With all due respect, Anthony Paoletto and Nessah Smith were elected to represent the 138th. They would have requested through AJ Perez the presence of the police department. AJ Perez most likely would have been there.
Perhaps Paoletto and Smith were negligent in not initiating such a meeting. They are inexperienced, I give them a pass. They should have been included. The “Fonsecas” are also part of the 138th and very involved. Clearly they were not part of this excellent venue. I think the Mayor would have been very supportive as well as the top brass of the police department if everything went through the proper channels.
Yes, the crime rate seems high in the area and should be addressed. Politics has no place when addressing these issues. Leaving out the two elected officials who serve under our Mayor was a mistake. Not including all members of the 138th was also a mistake.
I think what seemed like an excellent idea to communicate issues to the area, the obvious absence of key figures made it political.
I commend Maria for putting this together but her disdain for some of her District members and elected officials cast a gray cloud on what should have been a great event. Just my opinion of course.
I don’t know what your definition of “key figures” is, but believe me when I say no one of any significance was omitted.
No one who participated in the planning so much as referenced the Fonsecas, Anthony Paoletto, Nessah Smith, or Stallworth. We agreed we would invite Senator Gomes. No other elected officials were invited. Acting Chief Perez was invited and is absolutely welcome.
Steve, Helen Losak, Michelle Small, and Sonia Vielot have worked hard on this forum, too.
Steve,
Maria previously said the forum wasn’t open to any “politicians” except the Democratic town committee members from the 138th.
Phil Smith, you are being untruthful.
When you asked me about the specifics of the forum this was my response:
“The only politician invited, besides the 138th DTC members who are organizing this, is Ed Gomes who we are hoping will lead us in a remembrance of the 9/11 victims.
“NO other politicians are welcome.”
Stop making completely false statements, sir.
I missed you, Steve.
This forum was initiated because several constituents requested it when I was standing at Thomas Hooker School on August 9, 2016.
You would think Anthony and Nessah would have done something to communicate with their constituents regarding the explosion of crime in the 138th District in the last five weeks, but they did nothing. One is busy attending photo-ops and the other is just non-existent.
We decided to do it ourselves. We contacted Senator Ed Gomes and garnered his support, we found a neighborhood location, created a flier, set up our 138th Facebook page, contacted the appropriate representatives regarding speaking and confirmed their attendance, and spent hours in this oppressive heat hand-delivering our fliers. We dropped another 200 fliers today.
It’s our first Community Forum so we don’t really know what to expect. We have no idea what the turnout will be.
I agree with everything you said! Everything! I hope it is well attended and informative.
I would expect Paoletto and Smith to show up. To not be there would just be foolish. Good luck.
Once again, I hope both council members don’t show up, because they don’t care and they are going to do what they are told to do so this meeting will force their hands. Do the same thing with these two, put a sign in their chair with their name and take pictures of their empty chairs.
🙂
Maria,
It is interesting to observe the Mayor’s Transition Committee recommended just this type of District gathering, thinking it might be a shared responsibility of four Council persons from adjoining districts. Page 12 in the report on the City site.
Of course you would first have to read the report and respect such a recommendation before acting on it. But it is often easier to go with the flow and do nothing. Good initiative in this district. Necessary in all districts if you talk with the people who live there.
Stewardship, representation, keepers of public trust. How does each CC see themselves in front of a mirror? Time will tell.
Great work Maria! 🙂
This could be the birth of a new Citizens Working for a Better Bridgeport Coalition?
CW4BBC
Could be, time will tell.
I want to thank Mary Filo and Jon Pulverenti for helping me hand-deliver another 150 fliers today. Jon lives in the 138th District and contacted me to see if he could offer any help. Went out in this heat with me for 2-1/2 hours.
The response we have received has been one of great appreciation. I received two more calls today from our fliers.
It will be really interesting to see how many 138th residents come out tomorrow. We really don’t know what to expect.
You’re welcome, Maria. Always glad to be able to help out the 138th.
Maria Pereira, Awesome Job.
Maria Maria, By The Great Carlos Santana
(In Part)
“Stop the lootin’, stop the shootin’
Pick pocking on the corner
See as the rich is getting richer
The poor is getting poorer.
I said a la favella los colores
The streets are getting hotter
There is no water to put out the fire
Ni gota de esperanza
Se mira Maria on the corner
Thinking of ways to make it better
Then I looked up in the sky
Hoping of days of paradise”
www .youtube.com/watch?v=nPLV7lGbmT4
Darlene is lucky you are taken, Gary Tobin! LOL. I hope you can make it tomorrow.
Helen Losak and myself just finished hand-delivering another 150 fliers. That’s easily over 1,500 fliers.
No problem. Looking forward to meeting more of my 138th neighbors. 🙂
So what happened at the meeting?
Please visit our Facebook page “138th District In the Know.”
It was a full house with every single seat taken and standing room only. A great success!
Nessah Smith and Anthony Paoletto attended and were in the last row. All elected officials were recognized warmly including Senator Ed Gomes, the 138th DTC Members, etc. Our City Council members received a very tepid response.
Pete Spain, Dave Walker, JML, Mary Filo, and Lisa Parziale all spoke and were warmly received. Lieutenant Cotto and several officers also attended.
We agreed we would schedule another meeting with Acting Chief AJ Perez because we needed more information and answers on the spike in crime.
We had a diverse group of attendees and everyone was very respectful.
Maria,
Thanks for the opportunity to participate. Congratulations on organizing a successful community outreach event. I look forward to participating in future events in various parts of the City.
Bridgeport like many other cities report their crime statistics to the FBI. Some real hard questions should be asked of him, what does he do when there is an uptick in crime in a particular area.
His so-called staff should be the patrol sergeants. They are closer to the problem than some captain or deputy chief. At the next meeting see if there are any patrol sergeants; if not ask why aren’t they here.
Where is that person who can think outside the box? There should be an oversight committee to ask the hard questions to the command staff of the police department.
Perhaps it’s time to look for a chief, a chief who is going to hold the department heads to task. Oh wait, Chapman tried that and was sent on his way. Norwood tried some things too, the union had other ideas too. The union got their way and AJ too. How is the marriage so far?
It was a great forum with very positive conversations. To say Smith and Paoletto received a very tepid response is putting it nicely. It is further proof the elected officials of Bridgeport are feckless and if anything is going to happen it will be up to citizens to take the lead.
“if anything is going to happen it will be up to citizens to take the lead,” a perfect statement.
PS, There are no circumstances that I would vote for Smith or Paoletto again.
Maria,
Thank you for providing a meeting forum in your area where many could stand up, ask questions, listen to answers in real time, and ask follow-ups. That is a different type of meeting.
Hope the two CC members present will return to the Transition report and read the multiple opportunities for making our City better. The Council has a role to play and for too long has ignored it.
Finally, public safety, City decisions that raise taxes for many or decrease resident equity values, and neighborhood down-zoning matters all deserve attention from Council members. When Lisa Parziale gets her Brooklawn constituency together, it will be well. We all can be fooled at times by the words of those running for office. When they win and we discover they are different from what was advertised, we need to return to TRUST BUT VERIFY. That’s when OPEN, ACCOUNTABLE, TRANSPARENT and HONEST come into play.
Tonight the Budget and Appropriations group will review the July report and discover the City is already projecting more REVENUE from STATE SOURCES of $6 Million. Will any go to schools to replace Kindergarten Paraprofessionals to start youth off in reading, writing, computation and thinking? And will the City Council firmly demand the City provide information about Capital funds regularly and comprehensively so borrowed and granted funds for Capital projects are seen and understood? Time will tell.
JML, is it possible the magician Ken Flatto already included these dollars while cooking the books? This sales tax share is old news. Maybe the books finally show the dollars, but this is NOT a surprise.
Congratulations to Maria Pereira and to all those who worked on the 138th forum. You could feel a real electricity in the room created by people who care and are ready to work hard and fight to bring back Bridgeport from the powerbrokers who are ONLY concerned about power and don’t care one bit about Bridgeport. I am sure the energy and enthusiasm shown in the 138th will continue. What is critical is this same positive energy spread to ALL parts of Bridgeport and the change that is necessary in Bridgeport will occur. The economic revival of Bridgeport will take some time but any economic revival must be preceded by the presence of GOOD GOVERNANCE in Bridgeport. It is obvious to more and more people BAD GOVERNANCE exists today in Bridgeport and the top priority is maintaining the privileges of power cooked up with the ingredients of patronage and exclusion. Governance in Bridgeport can be changed but it will take a little bit of time and more “people power.” But it does seem to be starting.